Defoe praised but is he set for the bench again?

Jermain Defoe continued his impressive goal scoring run and his winner in last night’s game with Anzhi was his seventh in eight appearances this season. JD is now one behind Martin Chivers in our European goal scoring charts and head coach Andre Villas-Boas hailed his achievement.

“It was another great goal, a great finish. It’s really good to see him out there again doing extremely well whenever he’s given the opportunity,” Andre said.

“He is a great professional, has a great attitude and now he’s only one off Martin Chivers so it’s a real great achievement for him.

“I think he has the ambition this season to go even further up the ladder in this record tally behind Martin Chivers and as an all-time goalscorer so I think that plays highly in his motivation, definitely.”

But AVB wouldn’t be drawn on the question of who will start Sunday’s Premiership fixture with West Ham.

We have to judge recovery and the fact that JD was involved today and Soldado wasn’t,” he added.

“Everything will come into consideration.” We have been extremely happy with the performances of both. It is a question of deciding what is best for the team.”

It’s a question that Defoe keeps asking and after last night’s game, who should take the striker role against the Hammers?